Arab Revolutions: Breaking Fear| Blogging Against Violations of Human Rights in Egypt: An Analysis of Five Political Blogs

Mohammed el-Nawawy, Sahar Khamis

Abstract

Violations of human rights were among the most serious problems under the rule of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Egyptian political bloggers played a critical role in reporting about the regime’s infringements on human rights and freedom of expression. This study analyzes a number of threads selected from five prominent Egyptian blogs that deal with human rights violations. The analysis is divided into three main categories based on the functions the blogs attempted to perform: public mobilization, documentation, or deliberation. The analysis highlights the significant intersection between these three functions, which augmented one another and contributed to the democratization in Egypt in a manner that paved the way for the Egyptian revolution of January 2011.